Arianespace to launch ESA’s Biomass satellite on April 29, with Vega C

On Tuesday April 29^th, 2025, at 6:15 a.m. local time (09:15 a.m. UTC, 11:15 a.m. CEST), Arianespace is to launch the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth Explorer Biomass satellite from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The mission called “VV26”, will place its passenger on board a Vega C launcher, into Sun-Synchronous Orbit at an altitude of around 666 km. Spacecraft separation will occur 57 minutes after lift-off.

ESA’s Earth Explorers satellites are recognized as being among the world’s leading research missions, delivering groundbreaking scientific insights about Earth’s complex systems. Forests, the ‘Earth’s green lungs’, absorb around 8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. Deforestation and degradation, particularly in tropical regions, are causing carbon stored in forests to be released back into the atmosphere. Quantifying the global carbon cycle is essential to understanding the subsequent implications for our climate.

The Biomass satellite carries the first P-band synthetic aperture radar to observe Earth from space. Thanks to its long wavelength, around 70 cm, the radar signal can penetrate all the way through the forest canopy. This allows it to collect information on the height and structure of different forest types and measure the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests and how it changes over time. In addition, the Biomass mission will map subsurface geology in deserts, the ice structure of ice sheets and the topography of forest floors.

Biomass, manufactured by Airbus Defense and Space, will spend at least five years making detailed observations and witnessing at least eight growth cycles in the world’s forests. Observations from this new mission will also lead to better insight into the rates of habitat loss and, as a result, the effect this may have on biodiversity in the forest environment.

The VV26 launch at a glance:

• 353^rd  launch by Arianespace
• 4^th  Vega C launch
• 10%  of the satellites launched by Arianespace are Earth observation satellites
• 52^nd  mission for the European Space Agency
• 146^th  spacecraft built by Airbus Defence and Space launched by Arianespace